Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 19/ Trend , J. Babayeva/
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has issued membership lists to 10 referendum initiative groups.
The CEC has now issued referendum membership lists to two more initiative groups - Republicans and Civil Movement for the Republic and Karabakh, CEC spokesperson Azer Sariyev told Trend .
Eight referendum initiative groups had already received membership lists, including New Azerbaijan, Progress and City, Prosperous Village, Civil Society and Free Speech.
The groups must gather 40,000 signatures from 60 constituencies and submit them by Feb. 1 at 18:00, Sariyev said.
Azerbaijan's governing New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) has launched the New Azerbaijan initiative group. The opposition Musavat party has launched the Republicans initiative group.
The Azadlig bloc, For Azerbaijan Public Forum and several non-governmental organizations established the Civil Movement for Republic and Karabakh initiative groups.
The Azadlig bloc composes the Popular Front Party, National Unity Movement, Citizen and Development Party, Musavat, Umid and the Democratic Party.
The Union for Democracy launched the Azerbaijan People's Republic initiative group.
NAP Deputy Executive Secretary Mubariz Gurbanli told Trend earlier that the opposition initiative groups will be ineffective.
In late December, Azerbaijan's parliament passed a decision to hold a referendum on March 18 to amend 29 Articles of the Constitution.
According to Article 152, the Constitution can only be amended via referendum. Additionally, Article 153 states that if the parliament or president proposes an amendment, the Constitutional Court must reach its own conclusions regarding the proposal before the referendum vote.
The Constitution was adopted in 1995. Amendments and additions were made in 2002.
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